


Christmas Cheer

by Momo33421



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Christmas, John's POV, M/M, teen!lock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-26
Updated: 2014-12-28
Packaged: 2018-02-27 03:38:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2677598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Momo33421/pseuds/Momo33421
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After math class, John bumps into a stranger. Turns out, both if them are staying at school for holiday break. Stuff happens.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I say this at he end, but I figure I might as well put it here too: I'm looking for something less cheesy to call this! Please leave suggestions in the comments!

I had always hated the Christmas season. It was the nineteenth of December and it was just around the corner. My family was incredibly dysfunctional, my father being an alcoholic, my sister quickly following suit, and my mother left soon after I was born. I had learned early on the ways around to my room that avoided the living room and the other bedrooms so that I had as little contact with my family as possible. When we did celebrate Christmas, it was living hell. But more often than not, we just let the holiday pass us by. Seeing all the other happy people made me resent life and me bitter towards everybody.

This year I was in eleventh grade and had finally reached the age where I could stay at school for the holiday (boarding school. It's fantastic not living with my family). I planned on practicing rugby as much as possible in the gym, ignoring the responsibilities of homework for a while, and enjoying the two weeks of free time without father or sister to worry about. It was going to be heaven.

"Watson! Pay attention! How many times have I told you not to nod off in class? Being a brilliant rugby player and popular among your mates won't solve your life problems!"  
I lifted my head from my hands and stared blankly at the mess of equations on the board. I doubted I would ever use trigonometry outside the classroom, but I didn't dare say anything.  
"Yes, Ms.Essleford," I said as the bell rang and I rushed out the door. 

Turning the corner, I rad head on into somebody, dropping my bag and all my books in the process.  
"Sorry 'bout that, I was just...." I looked up from picking upmost thing and lost my train of thought.  
There in front of me was a tall boy, with curly, messy hair and sharp cheek bones. He was slender, but looked as if he could really beat me up if he tried. His lips were a brilliant Cupid's bow shape and had mesmerizing eyes that seemed to be blue, green and gold all at once.  
"Don't worry about it. Watch where you are going next time," he said in a deep, rich voice that made my insides melt.  
"Yeah, uh...yeah. I'll see you around I guess?" Out of my confusion as to what my feelings were doing, that last bit was posed as a question.  
He nodded as walked away, leaving me standing dazed in the middle of the hallway. If I hadn't been so flustered, I would have sworn I saw him wink.

 

I continued on my way to the dorms and couldn't keep my mind off this boy. I wasn't gay, I was sure of that. I had just broken up with my girlfriend of two years last week (she was cheating on me with another guy in my grade). None the less, I was a bit worried about they whole situation. Would he be distracting? Would I ever see him again? I mean, he looked to tall to be in any grade other than mine. Lastly, and the most terrifying, could I be wrong about my orientation? 

Slow down, crazy. Slow down, I thought, You just met the guy.

But still, I could tell that this might end up being an uphill battle.


	2. Chapter 2

"See you in two weeks, John!" Molly Hooper threw her arms about my neck.  
"Have a good break," Greg Lestrade smiled and shook my hand.  
Soon they were both heading out the door with the rest of the ninth, tenth, and some of the eleventh and twelfth graders. Only about ten of us stayed behind in the great hall.  
"Ah yes. Look at their happy little faces," said a voice behind me.  
I turned around and there was the boy. He looked down at me, almost a full head taller.  
"Oh, uh, yeah. I don't have much reason to go home so I'm staying here. I-" I stopped suddenly, realizing I was rambling, "So, uh, sorry about the other day. What's your name?"  
"Sherlock Holmes. Don't worry about it. I've dealt with worse. And you?"  
"John Watson," I said, not looking at him,"yup. That's my name......"  
WHAT? That might be the STUPIDEST thing you have ever said, I scolded myself.  
"I'll be in the library if you want to continue this conversation."  
And with that he walked off. I stuck my hands in my pocket out of nervous habit and felt a small folded piece of paper. I pulled it out and carefully unfolded it.

'That was less of an invitation, and more of a command. Unless, of course, I'm getting the hints wrong and you would rather not come. At any rate, call.' And then his number. 

I folded it back up, stuck it in my pocket and ran to the library.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
I fond him in the back reading room, surrounded by books on crime, chemistry, murder and things do that nature. He looked up and smiled, gesturing to an open chair.  
"What's this about then?" I asked, picking up a book titled The Power of Mind Palaces: What They Are and How to Use Them.  
"Just a hobby," he answered, "I like to look at the newspapers to find murder cases and try to solve them. I usually do before the professionals do. Or at least before the results are published."  
I watched him flip through pages, before he slammed it closed and added it to a growing pile to his left.  
"Boring. I knew all this already. All of this is just so......BASIC."

"How long have you been at this school? I never saw you until I ran into you," I asked.  
"Since ninth, like you," Sherlock replied, "I just stay away from everybody. Rugby players especially."  
I looked at him, confused, "Why avoid rugby players?"  
"They don't tend to be, what's the word......friendly. They have a tendency to tease," he replied, putting books back on shelves.  
"What's there to tease about? You seem nice enough."  
"I have an ability called deduction. You might have heard the term in geometry. I use facts and rules, like in math, to deduce everything about, well, everything. I can tell a lot about a person in one look. Some people are offended by what I know. They confuse describing with insulting. Others are confused or scared. Mostly the stupid people."

I stared at him, astounded.  
"So you could just tell me everything about myself by a glance?"  
"Most things, yes."  
I shook my head, "Amazing. Absolutely astounding."

Sherlock smiled as if he wasn't used to receiving compliments and pulled a book out of his bag.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two complete! Chapter three is on it's way.....


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave in the comments below what I could rename this so it sounds less cheesy! Thanks

The book was small and green, with gold lettering on the front and binding he kept carefully out of view. He blushed as he saw me turn my head to get a better look.

"The Hobbit. Tolkien is a guilty pleasure of mine."  
"Same!" My eyes widened "How far are you?"  
"Oh I'm just rereading it."  
"You ever seen the movies?"  
Sherlock shook his head, "Never very interested in movies."  
"Well then I'll have to fix that," I smiled," we are having a movie night sometime this break."

The bell rang for dinner and I began to run to get to the front of the line, then remembered that nobody was here. Sherlock was walking in the opposite direction.  
"Where are you going?" I called after him.  
"Not hungry," he said simply.

I shrugged, and continued to make my way downstairs.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
I noticed a boy for the rugby team had also stayed, so after I got my food I sat down next to him.

"Hey, Matt," I smiled as I set my tray down, "Didn't know you were staying, too"  
Yes I did. The whole rugby team did. We were all very open with each other and just last week Matt had come out to us. This was huge, considering how Matt came from an extremely conservative family from the U.S. I guessed that Matt had recently told his family and wasn't allowed to come home.

"I can tell from your face that you have a pretty good guess," Matt smiled sadly.  
"Yeah. I'm really sorry."  
Matt shrugged, "Their loss. I have a boyfriend anyway and don't need them to tell me I'm not happy. I am. I just wish they could see that."  
"Hey. Don't worry about it," I set my hand on his shoulder, "Us boys on the rugby team will be your family now, okay?"

Matt nodded and we began to eat and make plans for extra hard rugby conditioning for over break. Most of the meal was bland (as usual), but the apple brownies were amazing. Apple brownies are essentially brownies, but instead of chocolate, they're apple. Think pie, cobbler, and brownie all in one. It's the holy grail of food.

As I ate, I thought of Sherlock and wondered where he was. I remembered he has said that he didn't like the rugby team and asked Matt, "Hey, you ever head of a Sherlock Holmes?"

He looked at me confused, "Yeah, why?"  
"Just wondering. What do the boys think of him?"  
Matt thought for a moment, "They like to make fun of him. They call him a freak and other stuff like that. I don't. I really don't find it that funny or interesting, so I don't participate in those conversations."  
I nodded slowly and finished my food. I decided to wrap up a brownie for Sherlock. Judging on the what he and Matt said, he didn't come down to dinner much.

As I made my way back to my dorm, I noticed a door ten rooms down from mine was slightly ajar. Inside was Sherlock, sitting at a desk, staring into a microscope. Every now and again he would write something down in a composition book. I knocked, and he looked up and smiled.  
"Can I come in? Have you eaten? I brought you some food."  
"To answer those questions in order, yes, no, thanks."  
I came in and set the apple brownie on the table and looked at the slide on the microscope.  
"What's this?"  
"Trying to see how blood reacts when you put different substances into it. I guess I could have just looked up some of this, but that's boring and I find that most of it is wrong anyway," he put simply.

I nodded, confused, "What are you finding?"  
He pointed to the notebook, which was full of neatly written graphs and results. For the sake of time, I'm not going to disclose all of the results here. But the gist of it was that the acidic liquids were more reactive than most of the others, which I guess is sort of a given.

"Well," I sighed, "I better get back to my room. I'll see you later, I guess."  
"Goodbye, John."  
This caught me off guard and made my heart skip a beat. It was the first time I had ever heard him say my name. The deep, rich tones of his voice made the simple little name sound beautiful. All I could do was nod in response and make my way to my room, more confused than ever.


	4. Chapter 4

Just like last night, Sherlock wasn't in the dining room for breakfast. This concerned me. Was he eating?  
I decided to ask the head cook.  
"Have you ever seen a tall boy, with curly, dark hair and fair skin around here?"  
Mrs.Hudson thought for a moment, "No....I don't think so. Why?"  
"That's the problem," I sighed, "I haven't either. He is a student at our school named Sherlock Holmes. I never see him down here and am scared he might not be getting food."  
"Oh I know his brother, Mycroft. He's a twelfth year. I'll see what I can do."  
I smiled as I made my way to the table where Matt was sitting. I didn't know Sherlock had a brother in Greg's year.  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
I slowly opened the door to Sherlock's dorm, around an hour after breakfast. Sure enough, a plate of now cold pancakes and sausage now sat on the table. Sherlock was still looking through his microscope, as if he hadn't moved all night. He certainly hadn't changed his clothes. The knot in his tie been pulled so it hung loosely from from his neck. Half the collar on his shirt was popped up and his blazer was in a lump on the ground. He didn't seem to notice my presence.

I walked over and placed my hands on his shoulders. He tensed up as if scared or surprised.  
"Have you eaten? Better question, have you moved since I last saw you?"  
"No"  
"To both?  
"Yes."  
"God Sherlock, do you ever eat?"  
He looked up with an exasperated look, "You sound like my mother. Yes I do eat. Not often, but when it's convenient."  
"You need to eat," I said, pointing to the plate, suddenly feeling the need to look after him.  
"Why should I listen to you?" He asked, sounding like a five year old.  
"Because I'm a big, strong rugby player and could beat you up."  
Sherlock laughed, "You wouldn't ever do that. I can tell that you're too fascinated by me."  
"You aren't supposed to know that. But please eat."

He mumbled something about not being hungry, but got up and made his way over to the plate. He stabbed the food for a bit in protest, but when he saw that I was going to just stand there with my hands on my hips until he ate, het tentatively took a bite. Just like that, the fact that he hadn't eaten for at least twenty-four hours kicked in and he wolfed it down.  
"Better?"  
He nodded.

I pulled The Fellowship of the Ring movie (extended edition, of course) out of my bag and held it up. He laughed.  
"You weren't kidding?"  
"Nope," I replied as I put the disc into my laptop  
We both sat on the couch, the laptop on the table in front of us on the coffee table. He sat fairly far away from me, though while hurt, I didn't say anything. I guessed he was slow to warm up to people.

The movie started and Sherlock pretended not to be very interested, but I could tell that he was incredibly invested. He completely blew his cover when he exclaimed, "They skipped Tom Bombadil?! He was one of the best parts!"  
This made me laugh our loud as I said, " I liked Tom Bombadil, too. If you really think about it, he wasn't that important."  
"I know," shrugged Sherlock,"But he's still fantastic."

We only got to right before Rivendell, when I remembered that I had promised to meet Matt at one for conditioning and it was twelve thirty. I only had a half an hour to eat whatever was left of lunch, get changed and meet Matt in the workout room.  
"Oh, God, I didn't see the time. I've gotta go," I said as I closed my laptop.  
"Can you come back later?" asked Sherlock.  
I nodded, "Sure. But we can't continue the movie. I promised this guy from the rugby team he could have my laptop in the afternoons. He left his in his dorm mate's bag and now that bag is someplace in northern Yorkshire. He's sort of forgetful."  
"That's fine," Sherlock grinned, "I just like spending time with somebody."

I waved and hurried down to the dining room, absolutely positive that I had a crush on Sherlock Holmes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure when I can update this again. I wrote practically all of it on 12 hour car trips, so I'm not sure when I'll next have time. Also, I'm still looking for name suggestions! Leave them below.


	5. Chapter 5

In about three days, we had the fellowship finished. In two days we had gone through the two towers.The movies were constantly interrupted by talking and once we looked back at the screen, we realized we had no idea what was going on. This made getting through them a bit tough. However, I had noticed that with each day, Sherlock was moving closer and closer to me on the couch as we watched. I glowed with pride to think I was gaining his trust.

The schedule each day went something like this: about two hours after breakfast, I would go up to Sherlock's dorm. At this point I would make sure Sherlock had eaten that day and, if he hadn't, I would make him eat. I felt incredibly protective of my little genius. I would them pull out whatever movie we were working on and we would plop onto the couch and watch/talk. At 11:30, I would pack up to go do conditioning with Matt.

On the third day of the return of the king (we had both been feeling very talkative for the past few days) Sherlock turned to me with a worried look in his eyes.  
"What is it?" I asked.  
"Well...." He started,"we're almost done with the third. Will you still come?"  
I grinned, "We still have the two hobbit movies. I have those on DVD, too."  
He smiled back and settled into the couch, just a teeny bit closer this time.  
"I'm glad of that."  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
"Hey where've you been?" Matt asked as I showed up about twenty minutes late to conditioning.   
"Oh you know, just.....hanging out."  
"Is that what you do all day? Just chill? By yourself?"  
"Well, not exactly by myself. But....hey!" I exclaimed, "I'm the captain. Not you. Alright, let's get to work."

Matt got down into a plank across from me.  
"Is it a girl?"  
"No."  
"Did you make a new friend?"  
"Yes."  
"Is his name Sherlock Holmes?"  
I looked up, startled, "Uh, yes.how did you-"  
"How did I know? I walk past his dorm on the way to mine. I can sometimes hear your voice through the door. Is he more than a friend?"  
I sighed, "No. But I wish he was."  
"Ok, alrighty then," Matt stood up, "we are skipping conditioning today. This is more important and this is what I'm an expert in."  
Matt walked over to the bench on the wall of the gym and gestured to the empty chair across from him.  
"We need a boy-to-boy talk."  
I sat down and looked expectantly at Matt, hoping he really did know what he was talking about.  
"Enlighten me"  
"Ok so if there is anything I know about Sherlock (which, to he honest isn't much) its that he's shy. Real shy. He doesn't talk to anyone. Well, except you, apparently. So don't scare him off. Chances are he's never been involved with anyone, romantically or platonically. And, going off at assumption, he gonna be inexperienced. So if you do start going out with him, be gentle and be slow. Don't rush him."  
I nodded. I had already figured all this out and hoped he would talk about how to actually ask the boy out.   
"As for telling him that you like him, that might be difficult. You have about a week left. You already missed telling him on Christmas."  
I had completely forgotten Christmas. I hadn't gotten anything as per usual and Sherlock didn't say either way. I felt a little bad that I didn't get him anything.  
"You could tell him on new year, but that's a bit cliche," Matt continued, "At any rate, don't try and over do it. Be simple, clear, kind, blah, blah, blah, the works. You get it."  
I nodded. That really didn't help any, but I was appreciative of the thought. I stood up from the bench, "thanks. We should probably get to conditioning. I don't want to reverse all the work we put in these past days. I bet I could do more push-ups than you!"  
Matt grinned, "You're on. Prepare to lose."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is. The last chapter. This has been a long time coming, so enjoy!

The next week passed. We finished the whole LOTR trilogy and the Hobbit trilogy, too. It was soon New Years and I still hadn't said anything.

We sat on the couch on New Year's Eve around 11:30, just talking when I said, "We only have a few days left until it get crowed around here."  
"Yeah," sighed Sherlock, "I'm going to miss your company."  
I turned to him with a surprised look on my face, "What makes you think I'm just going to stop talking to you? I've loved spending time with you this break."  
"Your mister popular rugby captain. I have one friend -you, incase that wasn't clear- and am awkward and too smart for my own good and-"  
"No," I said sternly, "No, I don't care. I'm not EVER going to let whatever anybody else says or thinks or whatever get in the way of whatever he have here.  
Sherlock looked up at me, "Really?"  
"Really."  
Suddenly, I knew. I knew I was going to say something tonight. Not only because I had about two days left, but because I knew that this was when he needed it. I really didn't care if Matt said it was cliche, I wanted my New Years kiss, goddamit.

We sat in silence for a while, my hand on his leg. The clock read 11:45 when I said, "I've been thinking-"  
"A dangerous occupation."  
"About us. About what we are as a pair, a unit, whatever you want to call it. But I have come to the conclusion that...." I gave out. I couldn't do it. No. I just couldn't.  
"God, if you are going to stop mid sentence, could you have at least picked a less suspenseful place?" Sherlock smiled.  
I took a deep breath and spit out quickly, "Yourereallyamazingandilikeyoualotandireallydontknowwhattodowithalltheseemotionsand-"  
He laughed, "A bit slower please?"  
My palms were sweaty, "I think I like you. A lot."

The clock rang twelve. Sherlock leaned over and kissed me. I had a mental freak out. 'Sherlock Holmes, the most beautiful being ever to exist, is kissing you. Why aren't you kissing back, idiot!?!'  
I placed my hand in his hair and put all the words and feeling I didn't know how to express into that kiss.

He pulled away, smiling.  
"I thought that you'd never admit."  
"So you like me too?"  
"No. I just kissed you because that's what I do to everybody," Sherlock deadpanned.  
"So does that meant that we're...?"   
"Sure, if you are ok with that."  
I smiled and held his hand, "Yeah. I'm ok with that."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks you for reading! As always, comments are appreciated.


End file.
